The property of late comic George Carlin is suing the creators of a comedy “particular” that used AI to recreate his persona.

Posted on YouTube in early January, the AI-generated George Carlin: I am Glad I am Lifeless was scripted and offered by comedy AI Dudesy, steered by people Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen. The hour-long video does not really characteristic the actual comic, who died in 2008. As an alternative, it is an AI-generated impersonation of Carlin speaking about “the matters I feel the comedy legend can be speaking about right this moment.” At present, the video has over half 1,000,000 views.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in federal court docket in Los Angeles, accuses the video’s creators of copyright infringement, saying they did not have permission to make use of Carlin’s likeness or materials, together with his albums and comedy standup specials, which the AI was educated on. The lawsuit describes the video as “computer-generated click-bait which detracts from the worth of Carlin’s comedic works and harms his status.”

“It’s a informal theft of a fantastic American artist’s work,” it reads.

Within the submitting, Carlin’s property additionally stated the AI-generated video “may additionally deter youthful audiences, who’re unfamiliar with George Carlin, from participating along with his actual work that’s his legacy,” and that the creators additionally infringed on copyright of their promotion of the “particular” on the Dudesy podcast and its social media accounts.

The property is suing for damages and calls for the creators take down the video from all platforms and destroy any copies.

“The Dudesy Particular is a bastardization of Carlin’s actual work and his legacy,” reads the submitting. “George Carlin, if he had been alive right this moment, might nicely have commented upon the matters mentioned within the Dudesy Particular, however he would have had management over what these feedback had been.”

“The Dudesy Particular is a bastardization of Carlin’s actual work and his legacy.”

Within the video in query, the AI claims the impersonation is “developed in the very same manner a human impressionist would…I listened to all of George Carlin’s materials and did my finest to mimic his voice, cadence, and angle in addition to the subject material I feel would have him right this moment.” As Mashable’s Tim Marcin writes, “The Dudesy particular is a voice-accurate copy of Carlin, not including context however relatively making an attempt to resurrect a ghost. It is a bizarre, much less humorous model of Carlin.”

Carlin’s daughter, Kelly, posted a thread on Twitter/X following the video’s launch. “My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, mind and creativeness. No machine will ever exchange his genius,” she wrote.

Tweet might have been deleted

The lawsuit is simply the newest fiasco in AI and copyright and follows the main conversations round AI and writers sitting on the coronary heart of the latest Hollywood strikes.